I found if I take out the 10K (R4) resistor the circuit works better, but the only problem that I have is when I turn the trim pot down to a lower resistance I burn up the trim pot. What I was thinking was putting a resistor parallel with the trim pot but I wouldn't know that resistance that I should use,

Putting a resistor in parallel with the pot will not save the pot. Is just passes more current around the pot. The excessive current through the pot at low setting stays the same.

I left the 10K in to give the original 2 seconds when pot at zero. I do not know what size (in Watts) your pot is But ifyou change 10K to 1K, 1.5K, 2.2K ... 5.4K (or other standard resistance) smaller than 10K should give what you want. 1K or more should protect the pot (depending on power rate of pot)

Well I kind of made some changes to the circuit, I took out the 1K resistors and I am using incandescent light bulbs in stead of LED's, also I am running the circuit at 12 to 14 volts, and I am using TIP122 darling transistors instead of 2n3904.

Just wondering could this circuit be made with mosfets other than using the 2n3904's, and eliminating the tip127's I have some irf644 mosfets laying around, that way I could I go with a higher voltage with my light bulbs?